


Soldiers and high castles

by pearwaldorf



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 11:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2545514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearwaldorf/pseuds/pearwaldorf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five occasions Akela Amador has to think about Captain America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soldiers and high castles

“She came out of the warehouse without a scratch on her. When they sent in the cleanup crew, there was a giant pile of bodies. She took them all out herself. And _that’s_ why they call Melinda May ‘The Cavalry’.” Liu bowed from the waist, basking in the applause. 

Akela took a swig of beer and looked around the bar. She started going to these little get-togethers mostly as a tactical exercise (she’d be working with them all at some point), but eventually, she discovered she enjoyed the company of her fellow trainees and new agents. Of course there were always assholes, but she found that for the most part, they were a surprisingly diverse group of smart, driven people. This late in the gathering, once people had unwound from their days and the shit had been shot, it had an equal chance of turning into story time or drunken karaoke. Akela vastly preferred the former. 

“You’ve seen Agent May though, right? She’s nice even when she points out errors in your expense report.” Washington cocked an eyebrow, deeply skeptical. 

“To you, maybe.” Ramirez teased. Washington’s sweet nature was known in their cohort, and he’d been “nominated” on more than one occasion to give incident reports when things went south. (The punishments weren’t any lighter, but the tongue lashings definitely were.)

“I can indeed testify that she is fearsome when she wants to be.” Triplett chimed in. “She taught me hand to hand, and whoof--” He mimed a punch to the palm of his hand and made an exploding noise. “Don’t let that quiet fool you. It’s always those ones you gotta watch out for.” He called across the room. “Isn’t that right, Sharon?” Carter, a slim blonde with sharp eyes she didn’t know very well, turned at the sound of her name.

"Are you referring to me or how Aunt Peggy snuck into a HYDRA base to bash the Red Skull over the head?" Triplett shrugged, like he didn’t really care what the answer was, and the saying that was the important part. She rolled her eyes, and Triplett smirked. They acted familiar with each other, definitely pre-academy, but Akela couldn’t quite place the relationship. 

"And besides, who hasn't heard that story by now?" Carter asked, obviously expecting the question to be rhetorical.

"I haven't." Akela surprised herself by speaking up. Carter and Triplett both looked at her, genuinely astonished. Triplett grinned big, and swung his chair over to her table. Carter hovered in the background, a small smile on her face. Tripp yelled to the bartender. 

"Can we get another round here? We need _proper_ refreshment for this story." Over the course of the night, Akela learned all about the events after Bucky Barnes and Captain America fell off that train in Austria, and the extraordinary heroism Peggy Carter and her Howling Commandos displayed in the wake of losing their leader and friend. To her surprise, they closed down the bar. 

Outside, she leaned against the wall, enjoying the feel of the air against her face after the warm stuffiness of the bar. Sharon joined her.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Her face was flushed from cold and alcohol, and her breath billowed in the cold. Akela nodded.

“I don’t think Rogers fell. I think he jumped after Barnes. I don’t have any proof, but it’s a feeling, y’know?” Sharon smiled, wry and a little sad. “And I just wonder how different things would be, for Aunt Peggy, for this”--she made a gesture that was meant to encompass the bar as well as the DC skyline in the distance--”if he hadn’t.” Akela stared out at the parking lot for a moment. 

“He might have survived and you’d be telling me stories about your Uncle Steve and Aunt Peggy’s SHIELD adventures. Or he might have died at another time during the war. It’s hard to tell. Maybe nothing would have been different.” Sharon looked thoughtful, considering.

“I guess so. It’s just nice on occasion to think that one person really can change the course of history, and all that.” 

“But then we’d all be out of work.” Akela said, so matter-of-factly that Sharon laughed, and then she started laughing too.

\--

There was a small courtyard where she liked to eat lunch when it was nice. It contained a statue of Captain America and Bucky Barnes that she had never paid that much attention to. Today she walked up to it and looked at it closely. Cap’s shield sat at his feet, and Bucky held his rifle aloft, in blatant disregard of all safety protocols. When she walked around the base, she noticed that Cap’s hand rested on Bucky’s back, at the small of his waist. It was, she thought, a strangely specific detail to put in a sculpture. Circling back around, she bent down to read the plaque at the base.

_STEVEN GRANT ROGERS and JAMES BUCHANAN BARNES_  
BEST of FRIENDS and MOST VALIANT of SOLDIERS  
INSEPARABLE IN LIFE AND DEATH 

_We erect this monument to COMMEMORATE their MEMORY and LEGACY_

_M. Carter (Director), J. Dernier, T.A.C. Dugan, J.M. Falsworth, G. Jones, J. Morita (Howling Commandos)_

Looking up at their faces, their expressions were resolute and determined, and Akela started to understand, not just intellectually, but in her heart, the allure of shining paragons and people strong enough to change the world through sheer will. But the world's only attempt at a superhero had perished a long time ago, and billionaires with delusions of grandeur were hardly an adequate substitute, no matter what some of her coworkers and the press seemed to think.

\--

She got assigned to Coulson's team for the op. He was one of her instructors, so at least she was a little familiar with him. They were waiting for evac, and it was hot. He handed her a bottle of water, and she drank it gratefully, sinking down into the meager amount of shade available. It seemed rude to not say something, so she dredged up the one tidbit of personal information she knew about him.

“I was told you had some Captain America trading cards.” He smiled, surprised at this unexpected point of connection.

“They’re mint. Maybe next time you’re in my office I’ll show them to you.” 

\--

It was a long stake out, and there had been no movement from their surveillance target. Because it was night, and normal people were asleep at this ungodly hour. Akela stifled a yawn and wished she had a Red Bull. 

"You ever hear the story of the Winter Soldiers?" Rumlow asked, taking a sip of his soda. She shook her head.

“Should I have?” He stretched out as much as he could in the tiny car. Next time she was going to argue for at least a sedan, she vowed.

“Nobody knows where they came from. But at pivotal moments in history, you see them. They always come as a pair, one dark haired, one blond. The dark one has a metal arm. The blond one has a shield with a red star.” This tickled something in her mind, but it was gone before she could chase after the thought. 

“They fight like they were bred to it, like it's all they ever wanted to do. And, like, there's this insane co-dependent devotion there too. I heard from somebody who knew someone who was there that an agent shot the metal arm guy. He wasn't even hurt, because the bullet just deflected off the arm. As soon as Blondie saw it, he hurled his shield so hard it took the guy’s head right off!” Akela stared at him, and he put his hands up. 

“Look, that’s just what I was told. And the one with the metal arm, he guards the blond one like a hawk. It's kind of fucked up, but even monsters need friends right? It's some weird Soviet Achilles and Patroclus thing I guess.” Akela stared at him. Rumlow grinned, like he enjoyed her surprise.

“What? I took classics in college. ‘Sing, o muse’ and all that.”

"You are full of surprises, Rumlow." His grin became wider.

"I contain fucking multitudes, Amador. You have no idea."

\--

They brought in a new agent. She was tiny, with red hair. Akela saw her spar with Barton and she was fast, viciously efficient. Rumor said she was former SVR, and one of the best they had, despite being about Akela’s age. People tsked and voiced their opinions, like they always did, and Akela rolled her eyes. Barton was a goof and a fuck-up off the job (or so she heard), but his judgment was sound when he was on, and that was all that mattered.

One day at lunch Akela saw the new agent in "her" courtyard, staring at the statue of Cap and Bucky. She walked loudly to let her know someone else was there, and she turned around.

"We have a similar story, where I come from. It’s good to see sacrifice and friendship honored."

"It is." She held out her hand. "Akela." The other woman took it. Her grip was firm and solid, trustworthy.

"Call me Natasha."

\--

She was in DC when the attacks happened. Out of the smoke, she saw two tall masked figures: a blond with a shield and a dark-haired man with a metal arm. They were ruthless and efficient, a pair of scythes leaving bodies of police officers and SHIELD agents in their wake. They threw people in heavy riot gear aside like they were dolls. The casual heedlessness was what truly rattled Akela, the thing that separated soldiers from living weapons.

She found a rocket launcher abandoned behind a flipped-over SUV. She hefted it on her shoulder and fired at them. The blond held up his shield, protecting both him and his companion from the blast. A piece of debris hit her in the head, and before she lost consciousness, she could swear under the paint of the shield she saw a flash of blue and white.


End file.
